BLU-RAY TUESDAY: 'Dark Skies' Crash Lands, 'Cleopatra' Celebrates 50 on Blu-Ray

The final Tuesday in May offers just two new major home media releases. The first 2013 blockbusters still have a few more weeks until their street dates hit in June, but in the meantime, home media audiences can check out Dark Skies and the debut of 1963 classic Cleopatra. 

First out of the gate is Dark Skies, a mixture of sci-fi and horror that copies several classic films from the two genres. Dark Skies, directed by Scott Stewart, poses the question of other beings living alongside us, particularly when young Sammy (Kadan Rockett) believes he's communicating with the Sandman.

Sixth 'Fast & Furious' Installment Adds High-Octane Fuel to Summer Movie Season

Fast rides and battle tanks duke it out on a European highway in Fast & Furious 6.

Change can do wonders. For a brief time, "The Fast and the Furious" franchise was in complete disarray courtesy of its third installment, Tokyo Drift, a film that stayed true to the high-octane racing niche, but failed to maintain the integrity of the initial 2001 Vin Diesel and Paul Walker action vehicle.

Much like the previous two installments, Fast and Furious and Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6 breathes new life into a once-dying franchise, concentrating on unrealistic complex heists plus international vehicular warfare now added to the equation. Fast & Furious 6 picks up where the 2011 film left off. Dom (Vin Diesel) and Brian (Paul Walker) are living large overseas, putting a life of crime in the rear-view mirror.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: 'Fast & Furious 6' Fuels Record Memorial Day Weekend, 'Hangover' Ends Up Wasted

With tentpoles, Fast & Furious 6 and The Hangover Part III going head-to-head on the same weekend and two major blockbusters holding over, this Memorial Day weekend became the third largest weekend in box office history.

Vin Diesel action vehicle, Fast & Furious 6 topped the box office with ease with a franchise-record $98.5 million, while the third Wolfpack outing failed to live up to the hype despite switching gears after the 2011 rehash that simply swapped out Vegas for Bangkok disappointed fans of the 2009 breakout comedy.

Blue Sky's Epic attracted the family crowd, who weren't all that into fast rides or man-child antics. With no family films out in theaters since DreamWorks The Croods, Epic challenged last week's #1, Star Trek Into Darkness for the 3rd spot.

'Into Darkness' Blasts Rebooted Trek Franchise Beyond Greatness.

Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) interrogate their mysterious prisoner (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Remember when it wasn't the in-thing to be a Star Trek fan, proudly clad in a Starfleet uniform, pointed Vulcan ears and comprehensive understanding of Klingon. Well, with the 2009 Star Trek reboot, JJ Abrams did the unthinkable transforming the franchise's 40+ year-old reputation of being an exclusive club of diehard sci-fi fans to reaching a much broader audience, now more appreciative to go where no man has gone before.

Star Trek Into Darkness continues where the 2009 blockbuster left off with James Kirk (Chris Pine), the hot-headed captain of the Enterprise with more experience under his belt, but still under the pretense that he's above the rules. After recklessly risking the safety of his crew on a primitive planet, Kirk is temporarily stripped of his captaincy until he's personally assigned to hunt down a terrorist (BBC Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch) with deep ties to Starfleet out to the far reaches of the galaxy.

BLU-RAY TUESDAY: Fantasy Pair 'Beautiful Creatures,' 'True Blood' Lead New Blu-Ray Releases

Vampires, crime dramas and a return of the "Governator" himself lead the pack in this week's heavily loaded list of new releases. While no major blockbusters are making their way to Blu-Ray yet for a few more weeks, home media audiences can still check out top new releases including Beautiful Creatures, Parker, Side Effects, The Last Stand and True Blood Season 5.

First up from Warner Bros. is Beautiful Creatures, based on the Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl romantic fantasy novel of the same name. Beautiful Creatures isn't here to be the next groundbreaking young adult book-to-film adaptation, but the film wrap still manages to wrap elements of the Deep South, forbidden love and dark magic into a stylistic cinematic interpretation.     

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: 'Star Trek' Warps to #1, Misses $100 Million 4-Day Target

The burning question coming out of this past weekend was what just happened to Star Trek Into Darkness? Banking on the success of the 2009 blockbuster and the new found coolness to be a Trekkie, Into Darkness had its sights a reasonable $100 million over its first four days in release.

Not only did Star Trek fail to meet that milestone, but the sequel opened a notch lower than the previous film with an extra day and IMAX sneak peek. Granted, the switch from releasing Star Trek Into Darkness from May 17th to May 16th may have confused some moviegoers, but this less-than-stellar start will require substantial word-of-mouth to strike lightning twice.

Whether or not, Star Trek Into Darkness manages to cross $250 million or even $200 million remains to be seen, but the summer competition continues to stay fierce.

Del Toro's 'Mama" Reawakens the Old-Fashioned Scare Fest

Annabel (Jessica Chastain) and her family are haunted by an invisible spirit, known as "Mama."

Director and producer Guillermo Del Toro certainly has built a noteworthy reputation for having a keen eye for discovering finely crafted dark fantasy shorts that fail to find themselves on the mainstream radar. Taking these shorts under his wing with the goal of expanding a tightly focused narrative into a full-fledged feature film adding his own signature flair is hardly a gamble for the experienced Del Toro, however his latest project Mama treads way too similar waters.

Based on a 2008 Spanish short, Mama opens with a tragic car crash, leaving its survivors, a pair of young sisters to fend for themselves in an abandoned cabin in the woods. Nearly five years without human contact, Victoria (Megan Charpentier) and Lily (Isabelle Nelisse) are at last rescued and later adopted by their uncle and his rocker girlfriend, Annabel (Jessica Chastain). Things take a turn for the stranger when the girls begin communicating to their invisible guardian affectionately called "Mama."

BLU-RAY TUESDAY: 'Cloud Atlas,' 'Texas Chainsaw' Look to Find New Audiences on Blu-Ray

If you don't find success in theaters, there's always a second chance on DVD and Blu-Ray. That statement holds true to both of this week's top new releases, Cloud Atlas and Texas Chainsaw 3D.    

First up is Lana and Andy Wachowski's Cloud Atlas, an ambitious adaptation of the David Mitchell novel by the same name, which interlocks six narratives from six separate time periods. With top name actors, Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving and a slew of others unable to draw audiences in on star power alone, Cloud Atlas exploits its complicated story to craft a story of intrigue and epic magnitude. 

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: 'Gatsby' Parties Large at #2, Comes Up Short Against 'Iron Man' Repeat

It wasn't no surprise that superhero juggernaut Iron Man 3 and Baz Luhrmann's stylistic retelling of F. Scott Fitzgerald's American classic would pack a 1-2 punch during this weekend's Mother's Day frame.

But was anyone expecting Luhrman's The Great Gatsby to benefit from being pushed back from a Oscar-bait holiday release to being sandwiched between two of summer's most anticipated releases, a spot dreaded by many jockeying for heated positions? $51 million says differently.

Now two weeks deep into an already lucrative summer movie season, the studio tentpoles on deck in the coming weeks have their work cut out for them. And will any be able to catch up to Iron Man 3's overperforming haul?
     

Top 5 Movies of All-Time That Defied the Threequel Curse

Call it a curse, perhaps even laziness on the part of Hollywood creatives, but second sequels have an unfortunate tendency to disappoint. With Iron Man 3 finally in the books, audience opinions remain divided ranging anywhere from the best film of the trilogy to an atrocious bait-and-switch. 

For the fanboys out there treating Iron Man 3 like it's one of the worst botches ever, it's nowhere among the worst. In fact, Iron Man 3 ranks on the better side of impressive third chapters in a series.

While Iron Man 3 comes up short in making this list, there are still sequels out there with enough fuel in the tank to keep the cinematic momentum going. There are only a handful that can boast this claim and even fewer that can be called the crowning achievement in a series. 

The five films below certainly stand out from the countless missed opportunities found in second sequels. 

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: 'Iron Man 3' Scores Second Largest Opening Weekend Behind 'Avengers'

Summer might not technically start until late June, but for the movie industry, the first week of May has been the traditional kickoff as the movie-going masses clamor to the first must-see event of the year.

2013 is no different as for the seventh consecutive year, Marvel Studios takes full advantage of the being the first big summer blockbuster of out the gate with the highly anticipated follow-up to last summer's The Avengers.

Attempting to bring down last year's record-breaking $207 million opening weekend behemoth seemed a bit too ambitious even for Marvel, however Iron Man 3 claimed the all-time #2 spot almost one year to the day with a franchise-best $175.3 million.

'Iron Man 3' Kicks Off Summer Complete with Energy and Laughs

Iron Man returns with more suits of armor than ever before, including Mark XLII.

Last year this time, Marvel embarked on its most ambitious outing ever with The Avengers. For the legions of rabid Marvel fanboys out there, witnessing its larger-than-life superhero dream team (Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and Captain America) joining forces for the very first time onscreen sparked a higher demand for more superior superhero flicks. That's all fine, except there's even greater pressure on Iron Man 3 to deliver the goods, more so than any previous installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Since the life-altering events of The Avengers, billionaire genius Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has found himself suffering from PTSD, unable to sleep and consumed in the bowels of his Malibu home lab with constructing newer variations of Iron Man armor. But those are just the start of his problems when Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin begins to terrorize the American people and its government. After an attack on his long-time friend Happy, Tony's war with the Mandarian gets real personal.